Gilels - Prelude Op 23 No 5 - Rachmaninoff

[MelosAntropon]

Troops that have been away from home long enough, let alone in combat, loved ANY live entertainment, even if it was a guy playing kazoo with his nose. That said, while Gilels was a stupendously talented pianist, the tempo here is "I-gotta-get-to-the-bathroom!" crazy. I have heard Rachmaninov's early recording of this - it's anything but slow, but it is not near as frenetic as this. "Alla Marcia" does not mean "Quasi Presto".

[gsarci2011]

how old was he during that time? and when was that?

[KlassikFan2007]

very interesting footage indeed!

Gilels' appearance made this propaganda video worth watching lol

[Eloybb1]

La cultura era sinonimo del Comunismo, donde salieron grandes genios como Shostakovich

[pearsewl]

SHIT that's fast!!!! :O

[FILIGREE1]

Dear Bret6464: I don't really understand how I am talking 'in riddles'. Most of my comments are light hearted and should be treated as such. I am a passionate, classical music enthusiast and I think it's a wonderful, atmospheric clip. Incidentally I have Russian ancestry and it was my grandfather who was piloting the plane who flew over during Gilels performance.

[nicklewisatx]

And all you hippies should read a history book or two. Yes Stalin was a monster. Yes Hitler was a monster. Yes the fight could be summed up as two monsters devouring millions in a fight. At the same time, the Russians seen in this video were heroes. If the West Europe and America were a flower, they blossomed from those millions of corpses. I'm dead serious. I've never figured out how we would have won world war two had it not been for their sacrafice.

Just one Texan's opinion.

[nicklewisatx]

ROFLMAO - omg are you saying a Soviet propaganda video has errors/misrepresentations?

[cheeseboy34]

i love how the music is playing and it's not the notes he's playing...and yet they finish at the same time.

[6022JP]

ギレリスの音楽がこのようなところでこんな風に利用されるのは悲­しく、悲憤に堪えない。

I hate war but I love Gilels.

[Stunt2one]

I always wonder what is he playing for real in the video...

[geertdehoux]

@Stunt2one

Yeah, I've always said he wasn't playing this Rachmaninov Prelude on this video.

[junggai]

I've always been amazed at the tempo in this clip, but then I just realized today that it's also a half-step higher. That probably means the tape has been sped up at some point in transmission.

[libetta]

that's highly impossible, if a tape is sped up virtually the entire music is mess up. this is the perfect tempo that should be heard with this prelude. kissin was too glassy with similar tempo. if you want a less aggressive approach with similiar tempo, try Moiseiwitsch

[mozart1986mozart]

i was born in Odessa too as Gilels

[AfroPoli]

What a terrible video. Music and war machines. Worth of Hitler and Goebbels. That's abuse of music of the worst kind. The video and the sound are a collage, only in the last two seconds you actually see Gilels play what we hear.

[G33kz0r]

I would have to disagree. The Red Army had no such ambition like that of Hitler and Goebbels. Such a piece is very well suited to the situation, a dramatic defense of the motherland; I cannot think of anything nobler than defense of one's kin.

[AfroPoli]

Please use your mind. Not even the composer who had written the music was a Russian citizen anymore. He was in the US by then. Go figure... That's like the Nazis would make propaganda videos with the music by Hindemith...

The Red Army was terrible. The commies killed more people than the Nazis. They divided Europe into two for almost 50 years. All the countries in East-Europe had to suffer under them. Defense of the motherland... give me a break!

[G33kz0r]

Non sequitur, defense had nothing to do with occupying East Germany and certainly nothing to do with whatever you may say, which came long after WWII.

[interceptor6]

@AfroPoli many east germans want things to be the same as under the russians. and the communists never tried to stop capitalism to expand, they only defended their lands, and the US did everything they could to destroy communism. rachmaninov was allowed to tour around the world to make money but he was a true russian, unlike prokofiev, who hated the communist reign. there is nothing rightous about war, but history books teach us a rather small minded view that disgraces russia

[Atlantis2184]

@interceptor6 

Didn't RachmaninoFF flee Russia?

[fisarmonicista]

@AfroPoli Well..... the US had killed more people than the nazis and the commies together (I think it's spelled like that :) ), and even if Stalin fucked all up comunism is a very beatiful ideology, the problem is that it's almost utopic.

[Atlantis2184]

@fisarmonicista your an idiot

[fisarmonicista]

@Atlantis2184 I hope you said that because my english grammar sucks

[Atlantis2184]

@fisarmonicista

No, I actually meant your comment stems from you being an overall idiot. Not your an idiot because you can't spell. 

[TimmyIsNice]

I think this is great.

[serene06]

It's such a great n touching scene - playing in front of army.

[vesemashouk]

Amazing song, he plays it beautifully.

Rachmaninov really puts me in the mood to kick some nazi ass.

[CliffordDawgg]

About wrong notes....they happen. Deal With It!

The great Beethoven interpreter Artur Schnabel was famous for butchered passage work, but the sweep. scope, and grandeur of the whole was awesome. He even joked about it himself by saying, "On the ascent of Olympus, what's a botched bar or two?

I'd rather hear a passionate and emotional performance that has some clinkers in it than a clean one that is cold, soulless, and mechanical.

[bourbakis]

Very inspiring!

[EvaHartwig]

Это не единственный пример его мужества.

[kingstravinsky101]

people who point out wrong notes need to get their head out of their ass!

[gbosey]

Do you suppose they would still send a concert pianist to play Rachmaninoff to entertain the troops in Iraq?

[FILIGREE1]

Maybe only after they had learned to spell it.

[cccpredarmy]

why should gilels entertain troops from other nation in a war that make no sence? in ww2 he played for troops who fought for their own country,to save it. it was not an occupation war like in iraq.

[FILIGREE1]

Gilels died in 1985 so he won't be entertaining troops anywhere. But actually, I think 'gboseys' point was that in this day and age it is unlilely that American troops would want to be entertained by a concert pianist (wherever they were). They would prefer 'Beyonce' or 'Britney'.

[ownage1810]

that fact hurts more than anything. i think theyre looking more toward their sex appeal more than their music, "music" on britney's part.

[FILIGREE1]

If only Britney played the piano like  Gilels

[G33kz0r]

America would sooner pull from Iraq than Britney would learn piano.

[Bret6464]

@FILIGREE1 You talk in riddles :-)) This is in the middle of WW2, when I bet American troops would have also liked entertainment by a concert pianist.

Today, I would bet Russian troops would also prefer "Beyonce" or a popular Russian pop singer :-))

[Rubinstein007]

wow, his power!! you forget to breathe!!

[imanofpiano]

he messes up i know what its really supposed to sound like. at 19-23sec. and 40sec.

[FILIGREE1]

I think he was distracted by the military aircraft flying 50 feet above his head at 200mph.

[imanofpiano]

lol maybe... pretty darn good anyways

[mathpianist93]

who would NOT be? lol

[kiwibd]

I love it!

i have always heard that Gilels played this prelude during the second world war at the war front and i always hoped to watch it! Thanks a lot for posting this! And great performance, indeed!